Today’s guest post comes from photographer Anne Gaskill, a great friend and fabulous photographer. If you are in the Richmond area, check her out…she can make your kids look as cute as hers with her photographing skillz. 
And answer Anne’s question in the comment section or answer an interview question from Caryn’s interview yesterday for a chance to win “Mama’s Got a Fake ID,” a fab book on (re)finding your identity after children.
Here’s Anne:
I’m writing this in the midst of a kid-free week, blocking out the memory of all the noise and mess my kids make. I have two sweet little rascal boys, but when the grandparents offered to take them for a week at their home 2 hours away, Mr. Gaskill Rascal and I said “where do we sign up?” I had a busy week ahead and taking two little munchkins out of the equation led to a more productive time.
As “the most peaceful week ever in our home” went quietly along, I really had some moments to think about my time being a mommy and everything that this stage of life is teaching me. What being a parent teaches you about your relationship with God is profound and amazing.
I love my children so much, but to think that God loves them a million times more. I think that sentence is so much bigger than me and my meager explanations.
As parents we often struggle. A friend of mine is currently in a battle to keep the twins growing in her belly healthy and safe for a few more weeks. She is dealing with some issues that could cause her to lose her two babies and just thinking about her battle is breaking my heart. So many stories like hers make me think about how hard we often work to bring children into the world. And then they grow up to be teenagers and we struggle even more to love them and teach them so that they will be happy and successful in life. I am reminded of the struggle that God goes through to rescue us from the sin that keeps us from experiencing the life He planned for us. He did more than I could ever do to save us, His children.
I talk about love, but I do not even begin to understand.
And then God tells us to have faith like a child. Seriously, I never got that for many years. Does He want me to ask 500 questions in a mere 30 minutes like my sweet little 4 year old?
Maybe.
Does He want me to hop through puddles on a rainy day and enjoy his creation?
I think so.
My son asked me the other day if he could snuggle God when he gets to heaven.
Yes sweet boy, I think you can.
We could debate the theology on that one, but I don’t think we should. A young boy knows that he can snuggle the people whom he trusts and the One who loves him most. I think he gets it better than most of us.
Now your turn…what have children taught you about your relationship with God?
Anne is a mom, blogger and photographer in Richmond, VA. You can find her blogging at The Gaskill Rascals.
Having my two precious babies has taught me that God can always make time to listen, even in the midst of dealing with everything else. Before having children, sometimes my fears, frustrations, and worries seemed too minuscule to “bother” Him with, knowing that He has all of creation on His plate already. But now, as a mother, I come home from a busy day at work to an even more hectic evening schedule (dinner, cleaning, bath time, laundry, story time, bottle, bedtime, grading papers, etc) but often stop what I am doing to talk with my three year old about her day or to kiss a booboo here and there. Because she is more important than making sure the laundry gets done. That’s how God feels, too. We are His children, and we are important. He will always take a minute for us, too…
Mothering has taught me lots of things but the biggest and hardest for me to learn has been patience. I am not, by nature, a patient person and when you throw in 4 little girls ur goes out the window. On my best of days, I recognize my inability to be patient and I seek the presence of the Lord, knowing full well that HE is the source of my patience. As many times as I fail, he is patient to anger and slow to judge. I so desperately want patience to be my first reaction to a frustrating situation and so, I spent much of my day praying for the presence of the Lord as I try to emulate His deep patience with me.
Hillary, I love our comment about God taking a minute for us, too. that will certainly stick with me in my “busyness” around the house, especially at the end of the day when I find it particularly hard to find those “presence” moments with the kids! Thanks for sharing.
Carrie, I hear you sister. Patience, or rather, impatience, is something I think God is trying to reach me through. I’m afraid He’s had to break out the whip a couple of times. Hopefully I’ll learn someday…might take a whole lifetime.
Having kids has taught me amazing things about God. Perpetual hope, belief in his goodness, recognition of the difference between discipline and punishment…the one I always get stuck on is this sense of just how much he must delight in us, how much pleasure he feels toward us.
The hardest lesson of motherhood has been one of trusting God. I’ve always been strong; I’ve been prideful in this aspect. I’ve never wanted to be (or appear) weak, the seeming “damsel in distress.” But mothering for me has been constant weakness. I’ve had to seek God’s rescue over and over. Allowing God to break through that pride to save me again and again has been so painfully good; learning that he is trustworthy is such a relief.
I have actually been thinking a lot about my kiddos and how much they can teach me. Most recently I’ve been struck with the love that I have for them, the strong protective instinct I have, and the pure joy that I receive when watching them. My boys can be quite challenging a lot of the time, but even after my three year old throws a tantrum he can do the sweetest things to remind me of the deep love I have for him…this reminds me of the Great, Great love of God, that while we were still sinners, he sent His son to die for us! My boys are boys…and bruises, cuts, scrapes are a normal part of everyday life…I recognize this and am pretty relaxed with them when they are being boys, but when it comes to their emotions, their feelings my protective instinct goes full throttle…(probably something I need to work on), but again this reminds me of God’s protection over us, how he wants so much for us to follow him and to be free of the sin this world is trying to offer us and how he will do anything to protect us from it, like giving us his son
Lastly, I love sitting back and watching my boys enjoy life. Whether it’s playing with each other, friends, our dog, or discovering new things. I believe, as Anne pointed out, that God wants us to enjoy his creation…I long for the child-like amazement for the world around me…if only I could step into their little bodies for only a moment 
Well, I do not have children yet, but reading various blogs, articles, or listening to radio certainly can prepare me but I can imagine nothing would prepare me for the reality of parenthood. I do not have kids, but I do have two dogs that could very well pass as kids most times. Since this blog is called The Stubborn Servant, I wanted to add something too! In my walk with God, I can most certainly assure that he has seen me as stubborn at many different points in my life. Sometimes that stubbornness was used to His glory and other times only to my own detriment. In working with my dogs (both rescues with various emotional scars), I had moments where I felt how God must feel when He wants us to be obedient. I tell my dogs not to do something or to do something because I can see ahead, I know what is good for them, know what the consequences will be and don’t want them to get hurt and I get frustrated and saddened when they ignorantly do what they want to anyway because they do not see. When they suffer the consequences, I’m there to pick up the pieces, lesson learned. Or when they bark at dogs behind doors or across streets or people unnecessarily who aren’t bothering them, I ask why they use up energy paying attention to distractions rather than focusing on the path ahead. I’ve often thought that this must be how God feels when I am disobedient in my thinking or my actions. I worry about what someone really thinks of me, or about other aspects of daily life that are not worth reacting to. I waste time putting thought deposits into the world’s emptiness instead of the wealth of God’s Kingdom. And when those moments occur, I can hear God shaking his head, like I would do to my dogs, and ask, “Why didn’t you listen to me?”
Michelle-
I have to agree that raising dogs does have much crossover in raising kids! Thanks for these insightful comments about the parallels. It’s cool how God brings us many different kinds of situations (people, pets, etc.) to point us toward understanding Him.
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